fruiting liverwort

[Chris Yeates]

evening all

recently Kiltoncomp posted some photo's of the leafy liverwort Lophocolea heterophylla with capsules

on Friday I noticed this colony of the very common thallose liverwort Pellia epiphylla with abundant fruits:



the globose dark olive green capsules open up to expose a fluffy head of 'elaters' which help to distribute the spores:

http://www.anbg.gov.au/bryophyte/ill...s/hahn-72a.gif

the spiral shape helps them twist and untwist in different humidity levels and thus helps spread the spores (myxo's often have somewhat analogous elaters, although the two groups are of course not even remotely related to one another)

you will find Pellia on dampish slopes in woods, particularly where on a somewhat heavy soil - so yet something else to look out for at this "boring" time of year

cheers

Chris

[CapAndBracket]

Top marks Chris, believe its the same as i photographed a couple of days
ago but wasn't sure about posting it here.



um, lepidoptera, fungi, myxomycetes, lichens, mosses and now
liverworts theres
just so much to look at.

Cheers J.P.

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by CapAndBracket

um, lepidoptera, fungi, myxomycetes, lichens, mosses and now
liverworts theres
just so much to look at.

Cheers J.P.

I know

next person who says to me "I'm bored" I'm not sure I will be able to control myself!

cheers

Chris

[kiltoncomp]

Originally Posted by Chris Yeates

evening all

recently Kiltoncomp posted some photo's of the leafy liverwort Lophocolea heterophylla with capsules

on Friday I noticed this colony of the very common thallose liverwort Pellia epiphylla with abundant fruits:



the globose dark olive green capsules open up to expose a fluffy head of 'elaters' which help to distribute the spores:

http://www.anbg.gov.au/bryophyte/ill...s/hahn-72a.gif

the spiral shape helps them twist and untwist in different humidity levels and thus helps spread the spores (myxo's often have somewhat analogous elaters, although the two groups are of course not even remotely related to one another)

you will find Pellia on dampish slopes in woods, particularly where on a somewhat heavy soil - so yet something else to look out for at this "boring" time of year

cheers

Chris

since finding the original one you mentioned above, i have come across quite a lot more of the same thing, strangely , all of them are on light sandy soil which is the norm in Clumber, although they were in shady areas,

i think ive found more interesting things in this "boring" part of the year than in the "proper" fungi season
and judging from some of the recent posts here in the fungi forum, a lot of other people have too

Brian.

[CapAndBracket]

Interesting, the one i posted is on rotten wood overhanging a small stream
in the shade (it's all boulder clay in that area).

I could imagine people getting bored watching me spend time picking through
a pile of wet sticks, but as you say just now and then something intersting
pops up.

Cheers J.P.

[oxycera]

Fantastic, I photographed the same today, wondering what kind of liverwort it was, then found this post. A very handy coincidence.

[oxycera]

A forest of Pellia